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Authorized Steinway is almost on the go - as Garry Garritan says, it's on the production line and is expected to be shipping really soon. Has anybody had the occasion to play it on the Winter NAMM 2008? What I found on the net are only rave reviews, and the price is very appealing - especially the Basic version targeted to piano students' and not recording pofessionals. 99$ with extraordinary sample library may be a real bang for the buck! I'm waiting impatiently - I guess there was some reason for Steinway & Sons to officialy put their name on the product, don't you think?

I can't decide which library to play daily - I have used TruePianos trial which i like, but they lack something natural in sound, PianoTeq trial which is great in terms of playability, but the sound is still far from ideal, and of course - Akoustik Piano which I still like, but found myself to use only Concert Grand from it. After buying a Kawai CN 21 M I don't really need sample library to play, I need it to record my playing (because Kawai doesn't have a line-out). I guess I will buy the library as soon as it's available. If noone post a comprehensive review, I will try to do that

I have been waiting MONTHS for this Garritan Steinway library! I currently use Ivory and only the Steinway library. Ivory is $300 for a three-piano collection so the $400 Garritan Steinway library should be 4 times as good!!

It'd be the same for me if I have known about that library before - but I have noticed it just after this NAMM (shame of me!). Just like you, I've been using only Concert Grand from Akoustik Piano all the time.

Still, no demos. Garry Garritan says (he is an active member and poster on the official Garritan forum, and quite a sociable man) that no demos will be available until official premiere, i.e. the beginning of product shipment. He wants to post user demos, because "demos made by the company who created the library may be biased, and we want to show the true face of Steinway" (the quote is not word by word, but the point is the same).